Marked by the Milk-Soft Alpha I Picked Up (Entertainment Circle) - Chapter 9

Inside the temporary film studio, Lin Ruoyun was in the middle of a scene with Zhan Qing.

[“I never thought you would do all of this, Mengqiu. I’ve always treated you well. Why would you treat me like this?”]

[“Hmph! Treat me well? Where were you when I was being tortured in the Su residence? Now that we’re here, I’m not afraid to tell you… the person who pushed the Old Madam down the stairs… was also me!”]

[“You… you’re a monster!”]

Zhan Qing raised her hand, as required by the script, and swung it hard towards Lin Ruoyun’s right cheek. Lin Ruoyun knew Zhan Qing was using this as an excuse for revenge, but for her, the performance was more important than anything. 

To achieve a realistic effect, she didn’t dodge and took the slap head-on.

The next second, she was pulled away by a force. She heard a loud smack, and the person holding her body trembled. She looked up in shock and saw Guan Yinghan’s red and swollen cheek. 

A slap with that much force must have hurt a lot.

With the momentum of the slap, Guan Yinghan stumbled back but quickly regained her footing, shielding Lin Ruoyun completely in her arms. Lin Ruoyun couldn’t see what was going on around her, but she heard Zhan Qing’s terrified and sharp voice. 

“Ah, ah, it hurts… let go…”

Lin Ruoyun struggled out of Guan Yinghan’s protective embrace and looked up. She was horrified to see Guan Yinghan’s fair, slender fingers gripping Zhan Qing’s wrist with an icy grip, mercilessly twisting it outward. 

Zhan Qing was an Omega, and her strength was no match for an Alpha like Guan Yinghan. In no time, her face was contorted in pain, with snot and tears streaming down, looking utterly pathetic.

“Naitang, let go quickly,” Lin Ruoyun said, trying to pull Guan Yinghan’s hand away. 

“Let go.”

“No.” From an angle that Lin Ruoyun couldn’t see, Guan Yinghan shot two cold, sharp glares at Zhan Qing. However, when she turned back to face Lin Ruoyun, she had the look of a pure, innocent little rabbit. “Sister, she was going to hit you. I won’t let go.”

Lin Ruoyun shook her head and explained, “No, Naitang. My sister and she are acting. Acting is fake.”

“It’s real,” Guan Yinghan said, putting her other hand on her cheek. 

Her long eyelashes trembled, and her eyes were pure and innocent. Her voice was full of grievance and honesty. “Sister, it’s real. She really hit me. It hurts so much. Naitang’s face hurts.”

It’s a well-known fact that simple-minded people don’t know how to lie. Many of the people on set were new actors. When they heard what Guan Yinghan said, they all looked at Zhan Qing in shock. Zhan Qing may have been a diva and thrown her weight around behind the scenes, but she went to great lengths to project a positive image to the public. Her face changed colors like a palette.

 “That’s how acting is. To make it realistic, you have to be dedicated. If you can’t handle a little hardship, you might as well leave.”

Guan Yinghan lowered her eyes and tightened her grip on Zhan Qing’s wrist. Her tense jawline had a fierce look.

Zhan Qing cried out in pain, screaming without a care for her image. 

“Lin Ruoyun, tell her to let go!”

“Naitang,” Lin Ruoyun said, feigning a serious expression. 

“Let go. Sister is going to get mad.”

Only then did Guan Yinghan loosen her grip. As she let go, she skillfully pressed down on Zhan Qing’s hand. A faint sound of joints popping could be heard. Then, she obediently and honestly pressed her body close to Lin Ruoyun, resting her head on her shoulder, her beautiful eyes darting innocently around. 

It was a seamless transition between a menacing killer and an adorable little sweetheart.

Zhan Qing painfully rubbed her wrist. Soon, her usual ruthless and arrogant demeanor returned. “Who? Who brought this fool to the set?”

Sister Zhang didn’t dare to answer and quietly took a big step back.

Seeing that no one was responding, Zhan Qing became even more arrogant. She pointed at Guan Yinghan and yelled continuously. 

“You fool, you idiot, you just wait! I’m going to make you…”

“Have you said enough?”

Zhan Qing looked at Lin Ruoyun, who had just interrupted her, in disbelief. She hadn’t said a word when she was deliberately slapped, but now, after just saying two things about that “fool,” she was trembling with anger.

“Naitang is not a fool.” Lin Ruoyun stared straight at Zhan Qing, her eyes sharp, her back straight, and her voice quiet but full of an unspoken power. 

“You must apologize to her!”

Guan Yinghan stared at her in a daze. Her heart felt as if a warm breeze had passed through it, so warm it made her want to cry.

Zhan Qing scoffed under her breath. 

“Lin Ruoyun, are you crazy? Apologize to a fool?”

Lin Ruoyun clenched her fists, her gaze fixed on Zhan Qing. She stubbornly demanded an apology. “Naitang is not a fool. Please apologize!”

Zhan Qing dismissively pursed her lips, walked past Lin Ruoyun, and stopped in front of the director. “Director Zhang, from now on, I don’t want to see Lin Ruoyun on my set. You figure it out.” With that, she let out an arrogant hmph and walked out of the studio in her high heels.

******

Zhan Qing was a new celebrity with tens of millions of fans. She had created an image of being positive and uplifting and was very well-connected in the industry. It was rumored that her schedule was booked for the next three years. Offending Zhan Qing meant a dead end for her acting career.

Lin Ruoyun held Guan Yinghan’s hand and walked out of the film studio. She was preoccupied and didn’t say a word the whole way. Although Guan Yinghan had already paved the way for Lin Ruoyun’s career behind the scenes, seeing her so disheartened still made her heart ache.

Following Lin Ruoyun into a small restaurant, Guan Yinghan finally couldn’t hold back. She knelt beside her, grabbed the sleeve of Lin Ruoyun’s shirt, and said in a soft, gentle voice, 

“Sister… I’m sorry. Naitang caused trouble. Naitang is a fool… and made you lose face…”

“No, Naitang is not a fool.” Lin Ruoyun placed her hand on Guan Yinghan’s head and affectionately ruffled her hair. 

“From now on, if anyone calls you a fool, you can yell back at them. Sister won’t be mad.”

Guan Yinghan’s fingertips trembled violently, and a sour feeling rushed to her nose. In a trance, she was back to thirteen years ago, to the day she and Ruoyun first met. Ruoyun had said the same exact words to her back then…